Morphological and functional alterations of nailfold capillaries in a patient with dermatomyositis

We report on a 70-year-old female patient with dermatomyositis. The connective tissue vascular bed was studied with capillaroscopy to evaluate morphological and functional changes of skin capillaries. Capillaroscopic findings showed morphological alterations such as rarefication of capillaries, avascular fields and tortuosity of nailfold capillaries. In addition, fluorescence-videomicroscopy showed pathologically increased transcapillary diffusion of dye in the apex region of nutritive skin capillaries. Increased capillary leakage probably contributed to the developement of oedema in our patient. Immunosupressive therapy combined with intensified manual lymphatic drainage was successful.